Konami Sneaking Metal Gear Into Arcades?

Two new trademarks filed by Konami hint that the publisher might be bringing the Metal Gear franchise from consoles to arcades. What could Metal Gear: Tactical Online Action possibly be?

While the two trademarks—Metal Gear and Tactical Online Action—were filed separately, their descriptions (and titles) complement each other. Both are for goods and services such as “arcade games, namely, amusement game machines, coin-operated video games, electronic game machines” and “on-line video games.”

The marks are also protected against “entertainment services” for “providing a website featuring information about video games” and “arranging and conducting video game competitions.”

One could come to the conclusion that Metal Gear: Tactical Online Action would be similar to Konami’s Metal Gear Online, the multiplayer component of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In fact, it’s not that unreasonable to assume that Metal Gear for arcades would simply be a repackaged Metal Gear Online, customized for an arcade experience. We’d wager that Konami corporate would find that sort of low-investment port rather attractive.

We’ve reached out to Konami for comment, but haven’t heard back. Consider this not much more than speculation on our part, but given Konami’s to-the-point trademarking habits, a Metal Gear arcade seems more than likely.

Metal Gear & Tactical Online Action [USPTO]